For many people, edged weapons are a symbol of strength and masculinity. This is what sometimes pushes home craftsmen to independently produce some of its types. The most common option is a knife. Making this product with a small list of electric tools is quite simple.
Knife manufacturing technology
The work should begin with the selection suitable material. The blade blade must meet some mandatory requirements:
- Be convenient to use for certain purposes (a mushroom picker’s knife and a hunter’s knife are completely different tools);
- Be durable, withstand possible shock loads without destroying the blade;
- Be sharp and maintain an edge for as long as possible;
- Be as resistant to corrosion as possible.
Options for blanks home handyman enough. One of the most accessible is the flat file. Even a tool with a worked notch can easily be turned into a convenient, practical, durable knife.
Annealing the knife blank
The main difficulty associated with giving the rasp plate the required blade shape is associated with the high hardness of the part. Of course, you can process the workpiece using emery machine, but you will have to spend a lot of time and use up several stones. An alternative is to reduce the hardness of the file. To do this, use one of the types heat treatment steels (processing temperature conditions), called annealing. It consists in heating the part to a relatively high temperatures(about 650 - 700 C), holding at these temperatures for several hours and slowly cooling.
At home, you can anneal a knife blank by heating it in a wood fire, in an oven, in a fireplace or in a stove, heating them properly together with the blank placed in the firebox and leaving the metal until it cools completely heating device. With this procedure, the hardness of the metal is significantly reduced, and it can be processed with both hand and electric tools.
Having achieved an optimal reduction in hardness, use a grinder to make a blank for the future knife.
Knife design and shaping
One of the most complex tasks In making a knife is designing its shape. The most simple solution for a novice knife maker, it will be to copy the outlines from any product you like. It is best to pay attention to models with simple forms, since it will be problematic to repeat complex elements, which most often negatively affect functionality, at home.
Having some experience in fine arts, you can draw a unique author’s project. In this case, you should pay attention to the harmony of the lines and the combination of shapes of the handle and blade. The most common design mistake is a “break” along the butt line at the point where they join. If the specific application (such as a boning or skinning knife) does not require just such an articulation, then it would be best to make the transition along a straight line or a smooth arc.
The next point is the length of the handle. For most manufacturers, this parameter is 110 - 120 mm and almost does not depend on the length of the blade. In any case, even if the knife is made to suit your own hand, it is advisable to comply with such tolerance.
You should also not get carried away with the number and depth of finger grooves and stops. This reduces the convenience of working with a reverse grip and may well transform the product into the category of edged weapon.
To match the chosen shape, first make a simple cardboard template and check the correctness of the work by checking it.
One of the essential parts of a knife is the handle. For its production, the most widely used various breeds wood. Our version uses oak overlays, which will be connected with brass rivets. To install them, three holes must be drilled in the tail part of the workpiece. This work will not be difficult with annealed metal.’
Selecting the shape of the slopes
Slope geometry or shape cross section blades are selected based on the purpose of the knife and the intended scope of application. The most common profiles are:
- Straight wedge from the butt. The section is an isosceles triangle. The most versatile form that combines stability cutting edge to impacts of moderate force and low resistance during cutting.
- Concave slopes. This profile is typical for straight razors: a very delicate cutting edge that does not tolerate impacts or lateral loads, and high cutting qualities. Knives with this profile are convenient with a small cutting depth; as it increases, the resistance increases significantly.
- Convex lens. The easiest profile to learn. Lenticular blades are designed for hard work and are especially popular with tourists and survivalists. One of the most famous examples– Swedish Fallkniven “F1”
There are also asymmetrical descents, for example, with traditional Japanese knives, used by professional chefs. Removing them requires some experience and special equipment.
Hardening steel at home
Before assembling, sharpening and polishing the knife blade, it is necessary to return the metal to its former hardness. For these purposes, another type of heat treatment is used - hardening. Many have heard about it, but not many have done it in practice, so we will discuss hardening steel with our own hands in more detail.
Technologically, steel hardening consists of heating it to high temperatures (about 900 C) and rapid cooling, usually in a liquid coolant. The most commonly available options are machine oil (waste) or water.
Secrets of hardening: heat source
There are several options for devices that can bring the heating of a steel part to the desired temperature threshold. Perfect option– industrial or self-made.
If such a tool is not available, you can use another one home assistant- blowtorch.
A fairly powerful jet of flame makes it easy to heat parts of small thickness to the required temperature. Remember to move the torch along the plate being hardened to achieve even heating.
In addition, it is possible to use ordinary charcoal coupled with blowtorch. To do this, dig a small hole in the soil, pour coal into it, and place the hardened blades of the knives on the edge. Heat the coal together with the plates with a lamp until the latter reaches the required heating. This method prevents the rapid cooling of the unheated part of the workpiece and its overheating.
The third option is to make a small forge. It can be either coal or gas. Main structural elements devices - housing and source of forced air. The base of the coal hearth can be made from steel sheet 10 mm thick with a piece of pipe with a diameter of about 20 cm welded at the bottom and an outlet from it for connecting a hose from the outlet of a household vacuum cleaner.
Do not forget to drill several holes in the sheet of sufficient diameter to supply air. Wood (barbecue) or coal is used as fuel.
Hardening secrets: heating temperature
One of the most important points with self-hardening of steel - achievement of the workpiece optimal temperature heating In production conditions, this value is controlled by special high-temperature thermometers. In everyday life, it is better to use old, grandfatherly methods.
The first of them is determining the temperature by the glow color of the workpiece. It has been noticed that when heated, the metal changes its color depending on the achievement of a particular temperature. For hardening steel, the most optimal color is light cherry or crimson, which corresponds to heating at 800-850 C.
The second way is to change the magnetic properties. Another property of steel when heated is its change magnetic properties. It is enough to lean the heated workpiece against a strong magnet and the absence of “attraction” between them will also give a signal that the workpiece has been sufficiently heated.
Secrets of hardening: cooling
To cool a heated required temperatures For the workpiece, take a container of convenient volume and pour the waste into it. Holding the knife by the shank with long-handled pliers, lower it into the oil and wait a while. The viscosity of the liquid ensures optimal heat transfer. Be careful, the oil on the surface may ignite!
The second method of cooling is using water. In this case, it is better not to use pure liquid. Before work, dissolve a few spoons in it table salt or use brine to cool the metal. In the old days, when salt had a very high price, the blacksmiths used their own urine as a saline solution.
One of the unpleasant moments that sometimes arises during hardening is the leash of the blade or its deformation that occurs due to uneven heating or cooling. To avoid this, it is best to lower the blade into the cooling medium strictly vertically with the cutting edge down.
Secrets of hardening: vacation
Hardening has only a positive property, from the point of view of improving the operational properties of steel, which consists in increasing the hardness several times, but also a negative property, consisting in increasing the fragility of the workpiece. In other words, when a hardened knife hits metal, stone, wood or bone, the blade can easily split. To avoid this, a third type of heat treatment is used, called tempering. The workpiece must be heated to a temperature of 180 - 200°C, kept for an hour and cooled in air. Many home craftsmen temper hardened knives from files in molten lead, however, due to higher temperatures (the melting point of lead is 327 ° C), this can cause a significant decrease in hardness and loss of cutting properties. It is best to use ordinary gas or electric oven, if you can persuade the owner of the house.
Assembling a homemade knife
Having completed all the above operations and bringing the knife steel to the required hardness, we proceed to assembly. We adjust the shape of the pads to the shank of the knife and cut out two additional leather inserts.
Then we lubricate the parts with glue, install brass inserts on the glue and leave to dry for several hours.
It is better to make the extreme insert not from a rod, but from a tube of the required diameter. This will help strengthen ready product when used on a leather strap, which will prevent its loss while hiking, fishing or hunting.
After the glue has dried, carefully sand the handle and blade with sandpaper. To protect the blade from corrosion, it is enough to polish it well after final sharpening and finishing.
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IN Everyday life knife - indispensable tool. No household can manage without it. Models presented for sale do not always meet the requirements for reliable and functional samples. To get a blade that combines best characteristics, you will have to make it yourself. IN Lately information on how to make a knife with your own hands has become very popular.
Advantages of homemade models
There is a huge range of knives on sale now. You can get lost in it, but with some effort you can always find a ready-made model suitable for specific purposes. However, there is always a chance of encountering a poorly made blade or incomplete compliance finished model expectations.
If out of stock the desired model You can ask for help from a blacksmith who will make a blade to order.
But such work, carried out in accordance with the wishes of the customer, is quite expensive. Usually in such a situation the idea comes to making a knife with your own hands from start to finish.
If you make a blade yourself, you can achieve a number of advantages:
Assortment in stores
Any quality product is always expensive. In addition, the choice of truly reliable and functional models is not as wide as we would like. More often, models are offered for sale that do not require increased requirements for mechanical characteristics and functionality. These fairly common products are often:
- do not have sufficient strength, so they break easily;
- made of the cheapest steel, therefore they do not have the necessary hardness for cutting hard materials, do not hold an edge well and quickly become dull, which makes it impossible to necessary functions;
- do not have high durability due to low-quality assembly, which cannot cost more than the materials used.
Commonly found knives like these are usually inexpensive. When they become unusable, they are simply thrown away and replaced with new ones. But this approach cannot be called rational, because it is not always possible to go to the store for new purchase. The knife is often used by tourists and hunters far from civilization. It must not only cope brilliantly with the responsibilities assigned to it, but also be reliable enough not to let its owner down at a crucial moment.
To buy a high-quality blade at an affordable price, you need to carefully study the market and all the offers presented on it. It is imperative to have minimal technical knowledge about knife steels, their characteristics and mechanical properties finished blade. However, you can go the other way by applying this knowledge in practice yourself. This is what many people do when they decide to make a knife themselves.
Purpose and characteristics
The production of any knife is always preceded by the selection of the required type. Not only the characteristics of the future product, but also the conditions of its manufacture depend on the purpose and operating conditions.
The following types of knives are most often made independently:
There is often a misconception in which the purposes of a camping knife and a hunting knife are confused. Among newcomers to the field of tourism and hunting, there is an opinion that it is possible to make one universal blade that will cope with all the necessary tasks with equal success. However, this is not the case.
Touring models are designed primarily for rough work. High hardness is also important for them, but fragility when working at fracture is strictly unacceptable. For hunting models, hardness always comes first, because their most important characteristic is the sharpness of the blade. Cutting prey with a camping knife is quite problematic due to the relatively soft blade, and a hunting blade can simply be broken if you try to use it instead of a camping one.
It is impossible to create a universal blade for all conditions. You always have to improve some qualities by reducing other characteristics. If you plan to solve a wide range of tasks, it makes sense to make several knives, each of which will perform its own function.
When the first stage is completed and the type of future knife is selected, preparatory work not finished yet. Before you start manufacturing, you still need to select necessary materials. The most important element of any knife is the blade. The next stage begins with the selection of the steel necessary for its manufacture.
Steel selection
The type of knife dictates the operating conditions. According to these conditions, you need to choose the steel that will best meet the tasks assigned to the blade.
The most important characteristics of the blade that should be taken into account when choosing a steel grade are:
- hardness obtained as a result of heat treatment according to the required regime;
- impact strength, which is responsible for resistance to chipping and brittle fracture;
- corrosion resistance required for work in special conditions and in contact with liquids;
- wear resistance required under conditions of increased loads on the blade.
Bulat and Damascus have earned great popularity as materials for blades. But to obtain such blanks you need the knowledge and experience of a professional blacksmith. Even if you know how to use blacksmithing equipment, they are quite difficult to produce. Not every experienced blacksmith is capable of this. You can buy a ready-made product, but it will be quite expensive.
More often, more affordable alloy steels are used, which are much easier to work with. In our country, the following grades of steel are most often used for the production of knives:
Other brands are used less frequently because they are less common or do not have the necessary characteristics.
The process of making a knife yourself contains a large number of stages. Each of them deserves detailed description, including all the nuances and advice of experienced craftsmen. Simplified, all actions can be divided into the following operations:
If you have experience working with metal, it is not so difficult to make knives with your own hands at home. Videos on this topic, shot by experienced craftsmen, will always help you understand the intricacies of all stages of production. With each new blade you make yourself, the level of skill will increase, which will allow you to create beautiful samples with high technological properties and decorative characteristics.
The knife is mandatory tool, which is needed in any household. Choosing the right product so that it lasts long and effectively is not very easy. However, you have the opportunity to make homemade knives that will not be inferior in quality to store-bought ones. Let's consider this issue in more detail.
Advantages of homemade knives
Among the advantages homemade products the following can be distinguished:
1. Free choice of knife type.
2. Use of available materials, which makes the cost of the finished element lower.
3. Opportunity self-registration knife handles.
4. Satisfying creativity.
In principle, homemade knives, if you follow the manufacturing technique, are practically not inferior in quality to industrial products. Naturally, all stages of production at home must be strictly observed. Also consider that in a factory, instead of people, almost all activities are performed by machines. At self-production you will have to do a lot of manual work.
Types of products
Before you make homemade knives, you need to decide what you will need them for. So, we can distinguish the following types of products:
- hunting;
- combat;
- household.
The peculiarity of such products is that the first and second types require permission if, of course, you buy them in a store. Also, homemade knives differ in the shape and length of the blade, and in the material used for manufacturing. The production process is the same for everyone. Sometimes there are only some nuances.
How to choose the necessary materials?
Making homemade knives is not very difficult. However, this is painstaking work that requires a lot of patience and time. Before starting work, you need to select the materials that will be useful to you in the process. So, you should prepare:
1. Steel, the thickness of which reaches 2 mm or more. Instead, a file or cable can be used.
2. Wood or other material from which the handle can be made.
3. Varnish (if wood was chosen).
4. Rivets for fixing the handle.
5. Fine sandpaper.
Need in additional material, of course, it can arise. It all depends on what type of product you want to make.
A very interesting knife is made from a cable. For example, you have the opportunity to get a very original handle from a tang. However, the most difficult stage is considered to be welding the scattered wires, of which the cable actually consists. Moreover, this process will be very difficult for a beginner without experience. You will not be able to make such a product the first time.
The preferred option is forge welding. That is, the cable needs to be heated, sprinkled with borax, heated again, and then begin to hit the material with a heavy hammer. The procedure is physically difficult.
What tool will you need?
Now let's talk in more detail about what exactly you will work with. In order to make homemade knives, you will need the following tool:
- Vise. Thanks to them, you can fix the workpiece for further polishing and sharpening.
- Tin snips or jigsaw with appropriate blade.
- Hammer (if you will be using a wire or file).
- Gas burner or other equipment for hardening metal.
- Drill and drill bit of the appropriate size. This is necessary to secure the handle with a rivet.
- Sharpening machine with different attachments. Naturally, you can also use sandpaper, but it will not be as effective, and the work will be labor-intensive.
You will also need sketches of knives that you can draw yourself. Wherein Special attention pay attention to all the parameters if you are going to build military weapon. In addition, you can now find finished drawing, which will suit your requirements.
Step-by-step manufacturing instructions
Before you make a knife, you need to thoroughly prepare. If you have the drawing and all the necessary materials and tools, then you can begin work. Moreover, you can do everything in your apartment or garage. However, please note that the work is noisy and dusty.
Naturally, the metal should be hardened before work. So, the manufacturing process itself consists of the following stages:
1. Cutting out the workpiece. Its length is 20-25 cm, and its width is 2-3 mm. To work you will need a vice. First, a rectangle of specified dimensions is cut out on steel. Next, the outline of the future knife is drawn on it.
2. Processing the workpiece on a grinding machine. Moreover, it is necessary to work with the edges. As a result of the procedure, you should receive a division of the future knife into two parts: the handle and the blade.
3. Roughing along the plane. Naturally, first you need to choose the type of sharpening. It can be blade (used in the manufacture of hunting knives) and razor (for the production of household products).
4. You have already figured out how to make a knife, its blank. Now let's start making the handle. For work, you can use wood, plexiglass or other material that can be easily processed. First you need to mark it and cut it out. Next, a hole is made for the rivet. The handle can now be sharpened to give it the appropriate shape.
5. Using sandpaper the product should be sanded. Naturally, polishing will be required.
6. Sharpening and polishing the blade. This action is performed using a machine and sandpaper.
7. The final stage is polishing the product. To do this, use felt and a special paste.
Combat knives and ordinary household products are produced in this way.
Features of making a product from a file
It is now necessary to consider the production process using other materials. For example, you will learn how to make a knife from a file. In principle, this process is practically no different from the instructions already given here. However, it has its own characteristics.
First of all, know that a knife made from a file will be quite durable and of high quality if everything is done correctly. For example, it is necessary to harden the workpiece so that it does not break or crumble.
It is very important not to forget to temper the metal. In this way, you will relieve internal stress in the workpiece, which can lead to damage. In order to future knife was smooth and beautiful, an etching procedure was also needed. Preliminary sharpening of the product can be done using a machine. But finishing should be done with regular sandpaper.
How to properly harden a workpiece?
You already know what to make a knife from. Now we should consider the sequence of the hardening procedure. So, first you need to thoroughly warm the workpiece at a temperature of 600-700 degrees. Hardening time is 4-6 hours. You can heat the product in the oven, stove, or even on gas stove. However, the latter option requires the construction of a special structure above the burner, with the help of which the temperature will be maintained.
The future knife should cool down together with the oven. Periodically during hardening you can sprinkle the product with salt. After cooling, it is necessary to temper the metal. This procedure is very simple. You need to place the workpiece in the oven, heated to 200 degrees and leave there for an hour and a half. The knife should also cool down there. After this, the hardening process will be completed.
As you can see, making a knife at home is not that difficult.
Etching Features
To carry out the procedure you will need:
- Knife preparation.
- A container into which liquid will be poured. In this case, the workpiece must be placed in this vessel.
- Regular table salt.
- Nail polish (color doesn't matter at all).
- A means with which women remove manicure from their nails. It will be needed in order to subsequently process the knife.
- Charger for mobile phone.
In principle, all this can be found at home. So the procedure will not be difficult and lengthy. Please note that the process itself is quite rapid. Therefore, choose deep containers.
It should be noted that this procedure must be carried out if you want to get a beautiful design on the knife.
Features of sharpening the finished product
This process is very important and requires some skill. Otherwise, you can simply ruin the workpiece or cause it to break and cause unevenness to appear on the blade. Rough grinding should be done using a machine. This will save you time. However, don't overdo it.
Finishing must be done carefully. It is best to use a regular sharpening stone for this and carry out the entire procedure manually. After sharpening, the blade is polished with a special paste and felt.
We looked at what to make a knife from. But the procedure has a number of nuances that should be taken into account. The tips below will help you make a quality product that will actually be used.
1. If there are small irregularities or burrs on the workpiece, then process it with a needle file.
2. To avoid injury when installing the handle, wrap the blade with electrical tape.
3. When choosing a material, try to pay attention to its evenness and the presence of microcracks. This can greatly affect the quality of the future product.
4. The blade slopes must be drawn out very carefully.
5. If you decide to choose wood for the handle, then you can use a regular parquet board.
6. Fabrication work of this product is quite noisy. Therefore, it is advisable to carry it out in the garage rather than in the apartment. In addition, you must wear work clothes.
Now you know how to do good knife at home. Good luck!
A hunter definitely needs a gun and a knife. If there are no questions about the application of the first, then there are different opinions regarding the second. Some believe that a knife is necessary for finishing and cutting up a shot animal, as well as for protecting against an attack by an animal.
Others use this item, first of all, to chop branches, cut bread, open cans of canned food and perform various household work, but cutting up game is an occasional task. Thus, it turns out that there is no universal blade. Any man can create hunting ones.
What is the product
A hunting knife is a bladed weapon with a short blade. The blade and handle are its main elements. To protect the hunter's palm from damage at the moment of striking, the product has a utik, that is, a limiter. Homemade hunting knives look very stylish. The photos below clearly demonstrate this.
In order to make a weapon, you need to decide, first of all, on the shape of the blade and handle, select the necessary materials, and also establish a list of tools and equipment that will be required to perform specific operations. Manufacturing hunting knives not available to everyone.
Features of creating a blade
For this item, the ability to cut is more important than the ability to stab. For this purpose, the blade is made curved and bent upward. The curve of the cutting edge should be large enough to allow long cuts to be made in one movement. This greatly simplifies the process of cutting up prey. The shape of the blade of a hunting knife is of great importance.
Such bladed weapons have a handle shank made from a single metal blank. The sharp edge of the edge of the blade is called the blade. That's what it is cutting part knife The opposite edge is always made blunt; it is often called the butt.
Knife hardness and length
To give the blade rigidity, special grooves are made in the metal part of the product. Such depressions are called valleys. They also reduce the weight of the item. The widespread belief that the lobes are intended to drain blood is deeply erroneous.
The length of the blade ranges from 12 to 15 cm, width - from 2.5 to 3 cm. It is better to make hunting knives with your own hands according to the drawings. But some hunters prefer to carry two types of bladed weapons. One blade is used for cutting prey, and the other for household needs. Not everyone knows how to make a hunting knife.
Selection of materials for manufacturing
The metal for the blade must be durable and not subject to corrosion. Tool steel has proven itself very well. Blades are made from it pendulum saws, and getting it is not so difficult. From carbon steels It is worth noting the brand. It has the necessary hardness, holds an edge well, and has high corrosion resistance. How to make a hunting knife so that it lasts long time, we'll tell you below.
Even the most perfect blade can become ineffective and useless without a reliable and comfortable handle. It is this that ensures proper use of such weapons. The knife blade will move in in the right direction or go to the side, whether your hands get tired or not - all this largely depends on this detail. The handle of a hunting knife should fit correctly and comfortably in the hand, but its beautiful finish is a secondary matter.
Attaching the handle
The handle can simply be mounted on the shank or attached to it using rivets. The first option looks more attractive. The knife shank is made in the form of a narrow rod. Part of it may extend beyond the handle. A thread is cut on the protruding part, and the handle is secured to the shank using a nut, pressing it against the stop. With this method of fastening, the base can be made from a set of individual rings. The locking nut is often called a knob and is usually given an attractive appearance. The handle is simply pushed onto the short shank and glued.
The riveted part is made differently. The shank of the knife is made in the shape of a handle, that is, it is flat and wide. Holes are drilled in it. The linings on both sides are symmetrically applied to the shank, the rivets are inserted into the holes. The fastening is very durable.
Handle: material
The material for making the handle must be durable, comfortable to the touch, not cold on the hand, not soaked in blood and not freeze to the fingers from the cold. The main requirements also include light weight, ease of processing and availability of purchase. It is probably not advisable to obtain exotic materials for a hunting knife.
The best raw material for making a handle is wood. The blanks are made from dense varieties. Very good parts are obtained from maple, ash and apple. Coniferous trees do not apply. So-called burls are taken from birch trees, that is, growths on the trunk. A hole is made in the workpiece for attachment to the shank. If it is planned that it will extend beyond the handle, then the hole is made through. Its diameter should allow the shank to fit inside the handle without splitting it.
Advantage of birch bark
Birch bark is considered the ideal material for the handle. To make the product softer, the raw materials are heat treated in hot water within 2 hours. You could say it is simply boiled in a large pot of water, then dried thoroughly. The finished birch bark sheet is cut into small plates rectangular shape. The size of the parts should be slightly larger than the size of the future handle. Next, the plates are put on the knife shank one by one.
Holes in rectangles must be made immediately before inserting them, since the transverse dimensions of the shank do not remain constant. The collected birch bark is compressed with a nut, which is screwed onto the thread at the end of the shank. If necessary, plates are added until all the birch bark is compressed into a single dense briquette, and several turns of thread remain under the nut. By using sharp knife and a file is attached to the handle required form. In the final version, the handle is sanded with fine sandpaper. No varnishes or paints are needed. It's always nice to make a hunting knife with your own hands. The drawings will help you decide on shapes and sizes.
The limiter prevents the hand from moving onto the blade. It is attached in front of the handle. Only a single limiter is installed. The crosspiece is used in However, many hunters prefer not to install a special limiter at all, and protect their hand thanks to the protrusions on the handle. These knives are more convenient for skinning and butchering animals.
Basic operations for making knives
The manufacturing process includes several stages. Let's look at how to make hunting knives with your own hands (photos will help you evaluate the labor intensity of the process).
The knife is ready. All that remains is to place it in a reliable sheath. Making hunting knives can be a good business.